Hunger hormone 'increases' during stress

Hunger hormone 'increases' during stress

New York (PTI): Ever wondered why you tend to overeat when you are stressed? Well, a study has the answer finally -- it's due to "hunger hormone" ghrelin which also has an "anti-depressant" effect.

It is known that fasting causes ghrelin to be produced in the gastrointestinal tract, and that the hormone then plays a role in sending hunger signals to the brain.

Now, a team at the University of Texas has found that ghrelin increases during chronic stress which in turn triggers feelings of hunger in the brain -- however, behaviours linked to anxiety decrease when the "hunger hormone" levels rise.

According to lead researcher Jeffrey Zigman, "Our findings suggest that chronic stress causes ghrelin levels to go up and behaviours associated with depression and anxiety decrease when ghrelin levels rise. An unfortunate side effect is increased food intake and body weight."

The researchers have based their findings on an analysis of rodents -- they restricted the food intake of the mice for ten days, thereby causing the ghrelin levels of the animals to quadruple.

Compared with rodents who had free access to food, their calorie-restricted counterparts showed lower levels of anxiety when being subjected to mazes and other behaviour tests, the 'Nature Neuroscience' journal reported.